Critics linked Islamic sexual laxity to its doctrines of determinism and paradise

Evidence

Within this general theme a variety of different emphases is met. In this context sex has its place only as the chief among several symptoms of an underlying laxity. Peter the Venerable spoke of Islamic institutions as “‘prudentes secundum carnem’ - judicious in a fleshly way, we might almost say - as if to speak so were to make a significant concession to Islamic feeling. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 855 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Alan has clearly culled his ideas from a hostile Christian biography of Muhammad; he later asserts that his corpse was devoured by dogs. He gleaned from this reading the notion that Islam is a depraved cult based on carnal pleasure. This is the gist of most of Alan’s anti-Islamic arguments: he lambasts the Muslims for asserting that God impregnated the Virgin through a material breath (flatus materialis). They hope for carnal pleasures in heaven, interpreting literally the biblical promises of a land of milk and honey. They practice ablutions thinking that water—rather than contrition and confession—can wash away sin. They justify their polygamy by citing the example of the Old Testament patriarchs, when in fact they merely want to satisfy their lust. The Saracens, along with the Jews, misinterpret Old Testament prohibitions against idolatry and polygamy, erroneously accusing Christians of idolatrous worship of images of the saints. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 882 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval polemic treated Muslim sexuality as a symptom of a deeper spiritual laxity — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 855; The Arabian Nights imagery signals Eastern sexual degeneracy as a moral corruption — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 662; Christian polemicists portrayed medieval Muslim sexuality as wholly unregulated (+2 more)

Related

• Medieval polemic treated Muslim sexuality as a symptom of a deeper spiritual laxity (similarity 0.86)
• Twelfth-century polemics reduced Islam to a carnal cult of lust (similarity 0.85)
• The carnal Paradise was the central symbol of Christian anti-Islam polemic (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christians explained Islamic licentiousness through Arab climate and temperament (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christians enlisted Muslim philosophers as witnesses against the carnal Paradise (similarity 0.82)
• Christian polemicists portrayed medieval Muslim sexuality as wholly unregulated (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval attacks on Islam centered on its denial of chastity and reason (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval fixation on genital washing mirrored Christian obsession with Islamic sexual sin (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval polemicists ridiculed Islamic paradise for its alleged carnal absurdities. (similarity 0.81)
• Medieval Christian polemic mocked Muslim sexual mores to discredit the Koran (similarity 0.80)
• Crusade-era polemic framed Islam as carnally licentious and militarily coercive against Christian love (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christians treated Qur’anic Paradise as proof of Islam’s invalidity (similarity 0.79)
• For mediaeval Christians Islamic sex was only a symptom of broader laxity. (similarity 0.79)
• Alan of Lille’s polemic fixated on Islam’s supposed carnality and misreading of scripture (similarity 0.79)
• Twelfth-century Christian polemicists framed Islam as lust-ridden heresy. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Medieval polemic treated Muslim sexuality as a symptom of a deeper spiritual laxity #corroborates (0.92) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 855
• Twelfth-century polemics reduced Islam to a carnal cult of lust #corroborates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 882
• Christian polemicists portrayed medieval Muslim sexuality as wholly unregulated #corroborates (0.85)
• Medieval Christians explained Islamic licentiousness through Arab climate and temperament #expands (0.85)
• The Arabian Nights imagery signals Eastern sexual degeneracy as a moral corruption #expands (0.75) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 662